No, it wouldn't allow us to do that. FA guys will be a short-term solution. We would still need to draft those positions for the future. RB can be had later in the draft or in future drafts.

Hopefully Ballard is of the school of thought that has followed Andy Reid coached teams around. This would mean heavy investment in the front 7 and OL.

looks like the colts picked up a 4th round comp pick....that's gotta help a little at stockpiling some numbers on defense

defense


everyone needs to stop with this offensive obsession. it is never ending with colts fans.

they constantly justify the need for offense. usually a tall wr

Barnett looks slow and lacks explosiveness.

Sure the production is there, but for as big as he is you would figure he should have disrupted games more. I didn't see that.

He's awful at changing directions. I don't think his game translates imo.

I'm for basically every pick being on defense, but if Cook is another Marshall Faulk I'd be pretty happy with the pick.

Still, I'd rather see all the picks (other than a 3rd or 4th on a RB) be on defense. The LB group is shockingly bad.

I'd tend to agree. I won't be pissed with Cook or Fournette because they might be really great talents, but anyone other than them that's not a defensive player and I will be.

I don't want to belabor the point because I still believe 2 things:
1. We absolutely need to pick defense in the first round.
2. Leonard Fournette will not be there when we pick.

But just for fun, when watching those film breakdowns of Cook and Fournette, I'm not sold on Cook at all. Here's the video of Fournette (the one on cook posted previously in the thread). Watch them side by side. Fournette is a killer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ortq29_UU

After watching a lot of Fournette vs Cook videos, it reminds me of the Edge vs Ricky Williams debate.

Williams was the better pure runner in his college career being able to juke folks, power over folks or just plain pull away from them in the open field.

Edge had less raw running power displayed in college but was much better out of the backfield on pass routes and a better pass blocker.

Everyone felt that Williams was a slam dunk winner in the NFL. Most felt like James would be a "nice" NFL back but not a game changer.

Now, I am not predicting that either Fournette or Cook will/will not succeed in the NFL....but the similarities between their discussion and the Williams / Edge discussion are many.

Cheers,

Myself, my inclination is to spend the entire draft on defense, with the
first 3 picks devoted to the linebacker position. The cupboard is nearly bare
on defense, it kind of reminds me of the end of the Tobin regime after he
had let Herrod, Siragusa, Bennet, Buchanon and Ambrose walk. There was literally nothing left, Polian had to start from scratch.
Quite frankly I wouldn't lose a minute of sleep if we lost any of our
Linebackers. Most, if not all of them need to be replaced. Scherk may have
actually understated the situation when he said we needed a Manhattan
project here.
As for the supposed strength of the defense, the line, I see a couple of nice
role players but no difference makers, certainly nobody that strikes fear in an
opposing offense. Anderson could be a guy like that if he can make it all the way back.
In the secondary Davis is the only guy you can hang your hat on. And he will
never be confused with Revis in his prime. The rest of the unit are retreads
and projects, not a good place to be.
So yes, it is going to take more than a few grocery trips to restock this shelf.
Having said all this, I take issue with those who are assuming that this
is automatically a top 5 offense without any help. I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet regarding the offensive line. I noticed the improved play during
the last quarter of the season too but Andrew was still having his ass handed to him a lot and the running lanes were sparse. I remember how a lot of people thought the line was "fixed" after the Colts deep playoff run a couple of years ago(forgetting the first 16 games and the playoff loss to NE). As it
turned out Holmes and thorton weren't the players we thought they were
and the line crashed, again. I don't think that will happen this time, I really
like the young linemen- all of them. But I would like a little insurance, Lang
of Green Bay comes to mind. He's a solid player who would instantly become
a team leader. He could help mentor the youngsters and having played under
Philbin in GB he could be a valuable liason.
As far as the receivers are concerned I know the running joke here is that
we'll know that Ballard sucks if he gets one. The harsh truth though is that of
this highly touted group only Hilton and Doyel carried their weight. The others
either underperformed(Moncrief, Dosett and allen) or weren't on the field long
enough to get an accurate guage(Rogers and Swoope). Given that, in a perfect world someone would be brought in to at least provide competition.
But, given the needs on defense that simply isn't feasible
Finally as far as running backs go, let me first say that I think the WORLD
of Frank Gore, just a hard nosed football player who gives it every thing he
has-all the time. But he's over 30, well over 30 and the shelf life of most
running backs is 30-at best. And we have nothing behind him. As an aside,
one of the reasons I haven't been here as much is that I've been doing a number of projects one of them has been dubbing old VHS tapes I have to
DVD. I have practically all of the manning era games on those old tapes and
I'm putting selected ones on to DVD. Anyway, from time to time I peek in on
the dubbing and watch a little. What stands out besides Manning is Edge,
how he effortlessly evaded tacklers and gained yardage. We've had some
good running backs since, Addai and Gore. But Edge was great and watching
those old films slams home the difference. Sure would be lethal to have a
running back like that again. IF ballard and his scouts after doing their research believe Cook is that kind of player I wouldn't hate that pick. But boy
that would be a ballsy . I've got a feeling that this early in Ballard would
rather pass this chalice and that's fine by me too.
Anyway, good to be back. Missed you guys.

Welcome back, Bert.

I agree with most of what you said.

I don't know that there is any position group on the team with the exception of QB that could not be improved.

A couple of them (WR, TE, O-Line) would do well with one more guy at the top end of the depth chart to help ensure they are heading in the right direction. Perhaps a couple of those can come in 2nd tier free agency to help round out the depth chart.

However, almost every other group (RB, DL, LB, CB, Safety) need complete over-hauls or multiple folks as both starters and depth. The need at every position on defense is critical.

I don't disagree with you that we could use a WR2/WR3 for competition, a TE if we don't re-sign Doyle, a starter/quality backup on the O-Line, RB2 and a Punter....but those needs are way, way, way down the list when compared to what we need on defense.

A RB like Edge is what you like to add when almost every other part of your team in Championship ready. It is a luxury pick; not a restocking pick, IMO.

Anyway, good post.

Cheers,

I agree totally on the differences between Fournette and Cook. Fournette is just in a different league than the other RB's in this class.

But just the same, this is a great, great RB class. I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to rank Mixon, from a pure talent perspective, up there with, or better than Cook, Wayne Gallman, a probable 2nd rounder reminds me a lot of Addai, except not as good a blocker. The list of quality RB's in this draft just goes on and on; McCaffery, Perine, Foreman, Hunt, Kamara, Mack.

I think all of them listed above, have a chance to be better than the Frank Gore of 2017. So unless Fournette is there at 14/15, then I pass on RB. In fact, if another team wants to trade up for Cook, then I would be listening.

The cupboard is just too bare not too.

If the Colts do not select a defensive player in the first I will scream and act very childish.